


Times In Between

by sudaki



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: F/M, Gen, Short Short, not DBZ!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-01
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2017-12-13 15:52:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/826055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sudaki/pseuds/sudaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bunch of quick character drabbles done while rewatching the series.  Mostly fit during or in between episodes.  Anime-based.  Extends up to Red Ribbon or so, so far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**1**  
Sometime in midafternoon she finds herself in a bullet-riddled little house surrounded by broken dishes. It's not the first time, but the half-full bowls and spilled tea still make something twist inside her. 

When they appear a few hours later for supper as though nothing has happened, she's almost moved to tears.

The second or third time it happens, she dares to feel like she's home.

* * *

 **2**  
It stings a bit. Of course it does – the guy who's probably your best friend ever brushes you off and flies away without a backward glance, so you don't know whether you'll ever see him again or whether he even cares if you do. 

For an ordinary guy like him, with insecurities and dark secrets and hidden motives and jealousy and doubts, of course. 

If you did the same thing back to Gokuu, he'd probably shrug and head off in the opposite direction and never think of it again.

Because Gokuu's not ordinary – if he's only learned one thing in the past year it's that. For him, a pure heart is more than just not understanding what boobs are for. It's being completely honest, straightforward, not even knowing what it's like to be anything else. When he sees pain or injustice, he won't think about danger or consequences. He just goes straight into it, headfirst, intent on setting things right.

But when you're only looking straight ahead there's a lot you don't see. And that, too, is part of Gokuu. 

If – _when_ they meet again, he will be delighted and act like they've never spent a day apart. But now, as the cloud trails off into the distance and the unknown, he cannot see – will not miss what he is leaving behind. 

If he even turned around to wave he wouldn't be Gokuu – he would probably fall right through the cloud.

Kuririn stands and watches until he's gone, just in case.

* * *

 **3**  
He brushes sand off his clothes, shakes it out of his hair, rubs his eyes and gives up. Nothing but a bath is going to make any difference. His muscles are cramped from spending the night in the car, and he's starting to feel the bruises he earned in that last fight yesterday.

He looks at the buildings looming ahead. The car's done for. Luckily it doesn't look like more than an hour's walk.

Bulma grabs his shoulder, using him to lean on as she shakes sand out of her shoes, one at a time. He watches as she redoes the laces and says, "I can go ahead and bring back a plane."

"I'm not staying here in this wasteland alone," she says crossly. Behind them, Oolong mutters something. 

He looks at the glittering skyline, back at Bulma. It'll take longer that way, but if he decides to argue they might be here all day. "All right, let's go."

The sun is still rising as they walk, and it's not long before Bulma looks exhausted, but for once she doesn't complain.

"I'm sorry about the gas," he says.

"Everybody makes mistakes."

* * *

 **4**  
It's not the first time he's decided to pack up and leave, but it's the first he's refused to be talked out of it. "No way," he tells Puar, "You heard her. We're going home."

"But – Yamucha-sama – why don't we stay in the city? There's lots of other girls here who like you –"

"I don't –" he jerks the drawstring on his pack so hard it breaks "– _care._ " They'd better sneak out the back way though, just in case. He's had enough for today. For a lifetime, probably. He politely but firmly rebuffs Bulma's mother's attempts to reason with him – _She's just going through a rebellious phase, she'll be back, why don't you just sit down and have a drink?_ – and makes it out of the compound.

It's getting dark now, and the coast seems clear. It's the first thing that's gone right today. 

"I know, Yamucha-sama," Puar says brightly, "Why don't we look for the Dragonballs, too? If you made your wish, you could have any girl you wanted!"

"I'm done with girls," he says. He doesn't bother pointing out that Puar is wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post-RR, pre-Uranai Baba. Yamucha and Bulma said they'd talk it over when the crisis was past. They do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just one scene and it's all goo. Just sayin'.

It's hard to say whose idea it was or who arrived first, but somehow they've found themselves alone together.  The sun is setting off the western shore and the air is warm and thick, and everyone else has made themselves busy indoors.  
  
Yamucha digs the toe of one boot into the sand.  He's been wracking his brains for the right thing to say, and hasn't come up with anything much.    
  
"I never lived in the city until last year," he blurts out, because Bulma is making it clear she expects him to go first.  "I don't know how to act at your school or around those – them.  It's – I guess I screwed up?"    
  
He glances sideways.  Bulma has her arms folded over her chest, pointedly not looking at him.  But she hasn't stormed off.  
  
"I don't know what – I mean, the day you left.  With Gokuu.  At the amusement park.  I –"  
  
"I saw on the news about the bomb scare," Bulma interrupts suddenly.  "You and Son-kun took that woman to the police."  
  
He exhales in a rush.  "Yeah."  That's something, anyway.  
  
She looks over at him, just for a second.  "That doesn't mean I'm just going to forgive you."  
  
Something, but not enough.  He swallows a sigh.  "I was worried about you," he tells her.  That's true, anyway.  Maybe it will yield some kind of hint.  
  
"Don't change the subject.  Besides, Son-kun is more than capable of protecting me."  She turns pointedly away.  Yamucha wants to groan – why does it have to be so _difficult_.  Why does _she_ have to be so difficult.  
  
Most of all why, _despite_ it all ––  
  
"I didn't know what to _do,"_ he says, with a hint of frustration.  He doesn't know now, either.  "I don't know anything about living in the city.  I'm no good at living there.  And I don't understand a thing your dad says, either."  
  
"So why didn't you leave?" she snaps back, "I told you I never wanted to see you again."  
  
She had.  And then she'd phoned, expecting him to still be there.  _And he was._   "I did leave," he admits, "Then I went back.  I thought you might – change your mind."  
  
Bulma is chewing on her lip now, pouting a little.  "Why should I?"  
  
He doesn't know _why,_ so he counters, "Well, you're here, aren't you?"  
  
Finally _finally_ Bulma turns and faces him.  Her arms are still crossed and she's frowning, but it's a good sign.  Probably.  "Is it that bad?"  
  
Just when he thought he had a grasp on this conversation.  "Is what _what?"_  
  
"Living in the city.  Do you hate it?"  
  
"What?  No.  It's – it's fine." Yamucha runs a hand through his shorn hair, wondering what this has to do with anything.  She's looking at him skeptically now.  "Well, I didn't like being left alone there."  
  
"Nobody asked you to stay," she reminds him with a toss of her head, and then goes back to looking at the ocean.  She's biting her lip again, making difficult faces.  He's not sure what it means.  Any of it.  "Besides," she adds after a pause, sharp and stinging, "I bet your stupid _fan club_ was there.  I bet they baked you cookies every _day_ , after I was out of the way."  
  
This time he _does_ groan.  He knows the girls from school are the root of this, somehow, but it still doesn't make sense.  He never wanted them following him.  He couldn't flirt with them if he _wanted_ to.  And if Bulma wanted them gone why didn't she talk to them herself, instead of getting mad at _him._  
  
"They were awful," he says flatly,  "I sent Puar to get rid of them, but they wouldn't listen to him.  I couldn't even leave the house.  You could at least have taken them with you if you were gonna –" and Bulma turns back to _glare._  
  
Her lip is quivering.  Yamucha's mouth snaps shut; he's gone very wrong somewhere.    
  
"Look," he says, softer,  "they... left, okay?  If that's what's bothering you, they're gone."  
  
"Gone?" she looks surprised.  
  
Yamucha feels a hot flush of shame.  He doesn't want to make this worse, but it's hard not to sound irritated.  This really isn't something he ever wanted to think about again.  "I got rid of them, okay?"  
  
"You did?" Bulma quirks an eyebrow.  
  
 _"Yeah._   I did.  I told them you... we... well, it was after you left, but I still... we... I thought – look, they laughed at me and they left."  In any other situation he wouldn't care, but girls are still a sore point.  It doesn't help that he's proving so inept at being in a relationship with one, either.  _If he still is._ "If what you wanted was for me to look like an idiot –"  
  
"Who cares what girls like that think," Bulma interrupts, in an odd voice.  His head jerks up in surprise and she's _really_ _looking_ at him now, expression a mess of all kinds of things.  "You are an idiot, though."  
  
A sudden burst of shouting and gunfire from inside the Kame House makes them both jump.  It's amazing things stayed quiet _this_ long, really.  Yamucha turns to make sure nobody's coming outside, then back, and Bulma is there to meet his eyes.  
  
He hasn't quite got that expression figured out, but it's definitely not angry.  That's good.  
  
"I should get back in there," Bulma says, "Before someone really breaks that radar.  I took a look, but I don't know what's wrong.  I'm going to try taking the whole thing apart and rebuilding it..."  
  
Yamucha lets out a long, slow breath.  If she's not angry and she's going back to talking like a scientist, it means they're finished.  And that everything is probably, _probably_ going to be okay.  "Okay.  I hope you figure it out."  
  
"Of course I will.  I _invented_ it," and she gives him an quick, impish little smile.  And there _is_ something there, an it's-going-to-be-okay kind of something.  
  
Yamucha still doesn't understand it, but he thinks that he wants to someday.


End file.
